Spotlight on Favourites: Urban Decay Lounge Eye Shadow

Something I’ve had on my mind to write for quite some time now, is actually a departure from my usual type of post, and thus I’m introducing what I hope will become a regular series here on the blog, my “Spotlight on Favourites” – products that I love, or use regularly, or rediscover and find that I love & thus now use regularly … etc.

Every so often, I find myself in a beauty rut, although I’m not really sure why that is. Brand overload? Too many products coming out too quickly? Themed collections redux? Whatever the cause, I tend to turn inwards at times like that and take a good hard look at what I’ve already accumulated … which happens to be a lot. Perhaps even bordering on hoarder status. Not giving any of it up, however.

One such item that stood out, was a lonely little ole eye shadow from Urban Decay that’s been sitting neglected in one of my makeup drawers for years now; Lounge – a strange creature that morphs from rust, to teal, to taupe, and EXACTLY what I was looking for. With its complex colouring, this is a shade that transcends the seasons and by virtue of its multi chrome nature, has the ability to look like you applied several different hues to your lids. Pure magic, I tell you.

Now for the bad part – this is a shade that is no longer available from Urban Decay, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. Since this new series will focus on products I own that are/or have become personal favourites, I apologize in advance for any unintentional lemmings that might get stirred up, but I’m hoping you can get inspired by these posts just the same! ♥

Urban Decay – Lounge Eye Shadow

Urban Decay Lounge Eye Shadow – When I first swatched this shade at a Sephora counter a few years ago, I was stunned; its gel-like and gliding application blew me away, but the colour(s) are what had me hooked. What at first appears to be an iridescent taupe, has so many more levels going on, as it can flash a rich russet, a grey-ish teal, or even a soft brown at times. Because of this multi-chrome nature, ‘Lounge’ has the ability to look different depending on which part of the lid you apply it on – appearing as a softer wash of colour across the lid, moving to a deeper intensity in the crease and meeting somewhere in the middle when layered along the lashline – and thus achieves that coveted “one-product-that-does-everything” status (yes, I just made that up, but it really should be a category). Even more surprising, however, is how different it looks in the pan (ie: more mushroom/taupe) and when actually applied (ie: rust with green/silver sheen) – eye shadow Houdini aka: makeup illusion.

Why did I reach for this shade now, you might ask? Well, I had just returned from my holiday and with my skin still quite tanned, it basically made so many of my newer shades not only unworkable for me right now, but they all tended to look muddy as well. I wanted something that could liven up my eyes and draw light there, while also being easy & quick to work with. The sly qualities of this shade do all that … and more. There is almost no powdery kickback when you dab/swirl your brush in the pan nor did I note any fallout, while the pigmentation – while not overly saturated – is even and consistent. ‘Lounge’ applies velvety smooth and perhaps due to to its inner iridescence, seems to have a longer than usual wear time, going easily 7 hours before any noticeable creasing and topping the 10-hour mark with a primer underneath. By using a larger headed fluffy brush, you can apply this shade as a light veil of colour across the lids – perfect for daytime/the workplace or as an understated look, and switching to a denser smudger-type of brush, results in so much more drama and sultry-ness … oozes sexy, in fact.

The following four frames show just some of its many facets:

Urban Decay – Lounge Eye Shadow swatch (varying views)

Urban Decay Lounge Eye Shadow vs MAC Club – Going through the rest of my eye shadow collection, yielded only one that had some similarity – MAC’s Club, which is also part of their permanent lineup as well as making appearances every so often in newer collections and/or seasonal palettes from this brand. While ‘Club’ has similar properties – multi tonal as well as iridescence, it seems to not only look, but lays down as a mirror image to ‘Lounge’, with its green hues dominating the taupe/rust tones. Still, in light of the fact of ‘Lounge’ being discontinued, it’s good to know that there are other options available. Another difference is that I found ‘Club’ to have more of a “bruised” look due to its more somber hue, and while application was effortless with this shade as well, it’s definitely not as pigmented as the Urban Decay.

*NOTE: I do have a MAC pigment called ‘Old Gold’ (permanent as well) that also has similar properties to ‘Lounge’, but as this is a loose powder and definitely more gold leaning, I opted not to swatch it here – but a stunning shade that is worth looking into just the same.

Urban Decay – Lounge Eye Shadow vs MAC Club

Maybe the real reason this series was created, should actually be attributed to laziness: I wasn’t in the mood for a task-heavy and complicated makeup look, but I wanted to appear like I had spent quite a bit of time creating a complicated makeup look. It worked, and thus now the moral of the story: when wanting to impress while exerting a minimum amount of effort, opt for a shade that has a neutral base tone (in this case the taupe/russet colour) with some complimentary iridescence thrown in (teal/silver) to create a unique and one of a eye look, no fuss, no mess. Only your makeup drawer need know for sure.

Hope you all enjoyed this feature and do feel free to let me know if this type of post is something you’d like to see more of – I do so love your feedback!